How to use journalism skills in scriptwriting?

[Powka]

Hey everyone,

I have some kind of weird question. Well, I'm not going to study any of these - not journalism, nor scriptwriting - although I'm interested in both of them. At the time I'm doing some journalism - writing about sports and film to local internet portals, and also write to my own blog daily. I love writing, but I want to use this skill in more productive way - to write scripts for something to shoot/film, and I don't know where to start.

It seems that it is easy for me to came up with an idea for an article to write, I can write millions of them at one day if I have enough time, but when it comes to scriptwriting - for example to film something with my friends (one of them is talented in filmaking) - I can't came up with anything! I don't have ANY idea, I don't know...

So, maybe any suggestion how can I pull this off, how can I think of something, since I'm not hopeless in writing? Maybe there are some articles on the internet for inspiration or something, or maybe someone here is a scriptwriter and have any ideas?

Thanks in advance!

[Stijn Hommes]

Do you already know the standard manuscript format? If you don't you might want to look into an online piece of screenwriting software and the screenwriting software forum here on the Cooler.

And AbsoluteWrite itself has a whole bunch of articles about screenwriting: http://www.absolutewrite.com/screenwriting/articles.htm

If you don't have any ideas, try some brainstorming around your hobbies and see if a story comes out.

[dpaterso]

Try to narrow down your personal tastes. What film genres do you prefer? What are your favorite movies? Who are the most memorable characters you can remember from films? From these whirling, transient nodes of thought careening through a cosmic vapor of invention, can you create interesting characters of your own who'd look good in a movie?

And if you haven't already, check out the screenwriting tips (http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24087) sticky thread which has links to free-to-read screenplay sites, software, plus loads of general advice. If in doubt, read 100 screenplays!

-Derek

[ATP]

As for directly using your journalism 'skills' (training?), research skills always come in use, and are transferable.

Also, depends on what journalism you're referring to-business, b2b, entertainment, politics, general news, features etc. Each of these has their own particular requirement.

As to whether the fact of having presumably spent a lengthy period of time as a journalist will help, the skills of the the two are quite different. For one, screenwriting has no "inverted triangle" structure to follow as does journalism. The closest you might come to the narrative of screenwriting is with creative non-fiction. Lest you misunderstand, both employ structure, but they differ considerably .

But, as Creative Exec pointed out sometime ago, journalism has much to assist with the job of screenwriter, as the very earliest of Hollywood screenwriters were journalists--because they had the 'stories'.

[Visionary]

Hey everyone,

I have some kind of weird question. Well, I'm not going to study any of these - not journalism, nor scriptwriting - although I'm interested in both of them. At the time I'm doing some journalism - writing about sports and film to local internet portals, and also write to my own blog daily. I love writing, but I want to use this skill in more productive way - to write scripts for something to shoot/film, and I don't know where to start.

It seems that it is easy for me to came up with an idea for an article to write, I can write millions of them at one day if I have enough time, but when it comes to scriptwriting - for example to film something with my friends (one of them is talented in filmaking) - I can't came up with anything! I don't have ANY idea, I don't know...

So, maybe any suggestion how can I pull this off, how can I think of something, since I'm not hopeless in writing? Maybe there are some articles on the internet for inspiration or something, or maybe someone here is a scriptwriter and have any ideas?

Thanks in advance!I am a newbie here but if I may, I have some advice to proffer. I studied journalism in college and I've done some freelance writing and broadcast reporting.

I'd advise you to follow the story. Even within your field of sports or broadcasting, there is always a story within a story that you are prevented from exploring due to deadline or the required parameters. Some of my best ideas are derived from stories that we covered where I allowed myself to think about the what ifs (what if this had happened to me, what if the ending were different and so on and so forth).

In addition, there are several great books on writing screenplays that would probably provide a world of inspiration to you.

Last but not least, start with a script for a short.

[WMcQuaig]

I am fairly new to this as well, but what I do when coming up with a new story idea. Take something really simple and figure out a way to complicate it.

(this is very basic and not meant to be taken literally)

Example:
A man walks to his mailbox to check the mail.

Well, What would happen if suddenly a ninja jumped out and threatened to kill the man if he opened the mailbox?

What would he do? Why would he be attacked by a ninja? Etc. Etc.

Start with something small and make it larger until you have something tangible to work with.

As for Journalism, I have a tendency to pull ideas and basic concepts for stories from off the wall newspaper articles.

Like this for example:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126911.300-our-world-may-be-a-giant-hologram.html

If your holographic head doesn't explode to soon, you might come up with something interesting.
(You'll get the holographic head reference in the comments on the article.)

That's what I do.

[zeprosnepsid]

I love writing, but I want to use this skill in more productive way - to write scripts for something to shoot/film,

This is a little insulting to journalists. ;)

I worked as an Entertainment Journalist for a couple years, and actually gave it up to focus on Screenplays because I found I didn't have time for both. I'm not sure there's a lot of crossover between the two. Despite being pretty successful with Journalism, more so then I have yet to be with Screenwriting, I was a terrible Journalistic writer.

But your problem seems to have nothing to do with Journalism and everything to do with not being able to come up with an idea. This is a little bit strange in the Screenwriting world, since most Screenwriters have more ideas then they'll ever be able to use. As others have noted, you can use a Journalistic idea (there are of course even many good films about Journalists themselves -- you could follow the whole 'write what you know' path).

But you should probably just start with basic brainstorming. Just google brainstorming and there's lots of suggestions. Or try freewriting. These are time tested techniques for coming up with ideas. I kind of wonder if you're not just trying to hard, and just letting go and brainstorming might help open the floodgates to your imagination.

[ATP]

Reading Zep's post, and re-reading the OP's post, makes me think that the OP has very little experience as either journalist or screenwriter.He/she does maintain a blog, though.

In relation to Zep's post and the other like it, I would say don't even do that.

I would suggest that you first put aside the idea of jumping in & writing a screenplay, and go and master the skill of traditional journalism, and then try your hand at a screenplay.People like Cameron Crowe--again, like Zep, an 'entertainment' journalist--had spent a lengthy time as a paid hack until his first screenplay was given the green light.(Crowe used his journalist experience in some of his later films, too).

If you are young,as I suspect you are, then time is on your side.

Ideas matter certainly--many have more ideas than can be feasibly developed to a full length feature film script in their lifetimes.

But, it is a matter of either reading many, many screenplays (as Derek says), or watching 1000 films (or more),and then attempting your screenplay (hopefully a short!). This advice is likely to be discounted by some of the screenwriters here, but so be it.

This is not the only avenue--some try getting into film school to major in screenwriting or by taking seminars/workshops at sky-high prices from successful screenwriters.

While the 'story' is the starting point, as Visionary earlier suggests, you're really going to have to go back and think about what you're doing. A script breakdown helps--characters, structure, learning the 'grammar' of film etc. As Visionary also says, start with a short.

[Team 2012]

Does journalistic writing really involve "skills"? It seems that most of the skill involved there is in areas other than writing: how to contact people, where to get information, how to coax or bluff material out of people.

All of which would certainly be of help to a screenwriter.

[zeprosnepsid]

Does journalistic writing really involve "skills"? It seems that most of the skill involved there is in areas other than writing: how to contact people, where to get information, how to coax or bluff material out of people.

All of which would certainly be of help to a screenwriter.

The contacting people and coaxing info was the fun part of journalism for me. It was the writing that was hard.

I think journalistic writing does involve skills and is very challenging. You have to take facts and make them interesting -- it can be like trying to write a gripping encyclopedia article some times. How much can you embellish to make it interesting while still telling the truth? How you can find the angle on a story that's going to connect? You may have one interesting fact, but how do you make a whole piece out of that instead of just a headline?

Fiction writers don't have the limitations of truth. If they have a story problem, they can use their imagination to fix it. But if you are a journalist, how do you make a piece on a boring person into something dynamic without making things up?

If you don't think Journalistic writing is a skill, read anything by Jon Krakauer. That man's a genius. (Actually, a lot of the writing in Outside is quite good. But Adventure and Misadventure makes good material).

But again, I don't think these skills crossover to Screenplay writing very well. As you note, the hustling is a useful crossover skill, but the form itself is a whole different animal.

[Team 2012]

Another of the skills involved in j-writing is the ability to crank on deadline, and building an attention span for focusing over periods of time: the writer's equivalent of physical stamina.

One big advantage of screenwriting is that the format provides a sort of focus and the stylistic limitations are usefull for freeing up creativity.

And best of all--no long descriptions! Yay!

Good luck